POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Chapter # 10 Central Texas/Austin
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (# 1653)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (# 1388) opened the monthly POINTers In Person meeting at 6:30 pm on January 23, 2002 at the Round Rock Library with 18 members and 2 guests attending. She welcomed back John and Jean MAROSTICA. Lin passed around a recent obituary of Louis SCOPEL'S mother. Lin still has some POINT labels and pins available for purchase. She presented Marilyn with a thank you gift (bribe) for handling the minutes. Lin and Marilyn encouraged members to register for the POINT Conference.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (# 1653) passed around photos of her new granddaughter Ashley Lynn Jones born Dec 9. She announced that she met a new cousin who lives in Austin, Joe SALVATO, via a member of the Austin Genealogical Society. They attended the same church in Houston and lived on the same street, but never knew each other. Marilyn showed a newly acquired book, Una Storia Segreta,The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during WWII.
Pat Oxley (#3713) proposed that the PIP group have a luncheon meeting on Sunday, August 25 & hire Jonathan GALLI, from the 2000 POINTer Conference, to speak. Our costs would be minimal since he will speaking at the Austin Genealogical Society seminar the day before. The group agreed and details will be worked out later. The BYU Molecular Genealogy Research Project will also be at the AGS seminar. Their web address is: http://molecular-genealogy.byu.edu Pat and Don spent Thanksgiving and Christmas on cruises. She passed around a calendar with specially marked dates and photos of the BUFFO Families that she made for family Christmas gifts.
Di Frei and Jamie CANNONE announced their wedding date of October 26, 2002 - after the POINT Conference. Jamie reviewed an article about the 1930 US Federal Census, which will be released in April 2002 in The Family Tree pointing out that the 1930 census asks if the family owned a radio. He also talked about the genealogy publication, The Family Chronicle and Cucina Italian and an article on ancient ancestry in The NewScientist.
Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) announced that the Italian Cultural Assn of Austin is hosting a family carnival on February 9. Their website is www.AustinItalians.org Jim Gerick hasn't done any active research lately but has been reviewing and analyzing his older notes.
Warren and Eugenia ASSAIBENE Luken 's new email address is WEL851@msn.com.
Carol MAINA Roam's (#4623) great grandfather's military record (on microfilm) described him as having straight hair. She found all her family on the 1920 census on Ancestry.com.
Jeanie MARSALIA (#4251) found a Domenico MARSAGLIA with the same birth information as the person in Thurber, TX; however, she cannot read the parents' names on the birth record to confirm that this is her grandfather's brother. The Marsaglia name is inscribed on the Wall of Honor at Ellis Island. Jeanie found out that an uncle served in the Confederate Army and is buried at the Austin State Cemetery.
Ernie and Gloria GAMBACCINI SILVA passed around beautiful photos of their Mediterranean cruise, which included 5 ports in Italy & Sicily. The highlight was a drive to Gloria's ancestral towns Mondavio & Mondolfo. They were pleasantly surprised to discover that Mondavio is a 12th century fortress, still having its original walls. They spent the night in a hotel in the fortress. Naturally, they are ready to return to Italy - but for a much longer visit.
John MAROSTICA is waiting for some information mailed by a family member.
Don VILLONI (#3985) talked about the AGS speaker from the TX Department of Health on TX Vital Statistics of 1999 and that TX birth records are private for 50 years. Among the many hits of the Villoni name on lycos.com was a book by Robert Lopez, Italian Trade in India and China. He encouraged everyone to search on one of their family names to see what will come up.
Joe MASTRANGELO's (#2614) grandfather's naturalization record shows that he had last lived in Buenos Aires, but that he sailed from Naples. Joe is reading The Italians by Luigi Barzini and finds it very negative. Joe showed photos of a presepio that he built this year for his home.
Our next meeting is Wed, February 27 at the Round Rock Library.